richard the second. >second. >> you'd like to be on that excavation. >> richard iii? did i miss one in there. >> they kind of go together. don't let the facts get in the way. >> great stuff. thanks for joining us. america live starts right now. and we begin with a fox news alert out of the white house where president obama is about to make a statement on a dramatic series of automatic spending cuts that will hit in a few weeks' time if congress doesn't act. welcome to america live. i'm shannon bream in for me begigynkelly. sources tell fox news that president obama is expected to call for a small round of budget

cuts that would buy congress more time to reach a larger agreement. that's because despite that fiscal cliff deal, we're still looking at these automatic cuts that were put into place to force lawmakers to deal with our debt crisis. that debt, our debt, the debt owed by every american taxpayer today stands at more than $16 trillion or roughly $140,000 for every single american household. our fox news digital politics editor and host of power play on foxnews.com is here live. chris, great t to see you today. >> you bet. >> the president will talk about making another shor short-term l and yet washington will be criticized for yet again kicking the can down the road. what new can he say today? >> nothing. he doesn't -- well, i suppose he could say that he was sorry he did not submit a budget yesterday as the law required of him. i suppose there's a lot of things he could say, but what he will say in all likelihood is

this. because of what we saw in the final quarter of the year 2012, the economy actually shrank as defense contractors -- or in part because defense contractors said you know he what? the axe is about to fall. get ready for this. we're going to pull back now. remember, we spend more than $900 billion a year on the defense department, on the pentagon, and so these contractors have a lot to say about the overall size of our economy. the president having seen that is going to say look. we have these cuts that we agreed to go into place, but the economy can't handle it right now, so let's kick the can a little bit and do some of these same kinds of cuts, and they call them cuts, but they're not really cuts. sometimes they're reductions to future increases, sometimes they're taking into account things like not fighting in the iraq war any more, and accounting gimmickry to get to the next thing, and then we'll fall off that cliff when we get to it. >> we understand the president is going to highlight some bad things that will happen if this

doesn't get resolved, things like kids getting kicked out of head start, people getting laid off from their jobs, cutting things like food safety inspectors so it won't be safe to eat. how much of that do you think the white house will talk about today because it sounds like it will go hand in hand that this is the house g.o.p.'s fault, you know, the house g.o.p. saying, of course, we gave you revenue. it's time to get legit about cuts. >> at 2:00 today, miss shannon, the congressional budget office will come out and say that the united states isn is on track o have by the end of the president's second term a debt of more than $20 trillion american dollars. that's a lot of dough. both parties know that this is not a sustainable -- adding a trillion dollars a year to the debt is not sustainable. both parties know that we're going to reach the breaking point eventually, but what the president is going to say today is that if we undertake the deal. remember, this was his idea. this was he and jack lew who he has nominated to be his treasury secretary.

they came up with this idea of this see quester when therapy fighting -- they were fighting with republicans over the idea of raising the debt ceiling. guess what? it's time to pay the piper. it's been delayed once. the president can argue all the bad things will happen and the food will be unsafe and the nuclear weapons will get lost in russia or whatever else he'll say, but eventually this is a problem that can't just be outrun. >> well, and the white house, at least the president's version of the story is he didn't come up with sequester and there are questions as you mentioned about jack lew being the man who came up with this, that there's some connection to the administration. he said congress came up with it, it's their fault, they have to deal with it. something else he may talk about today is essentially this theme that the economy is poised to start growing this year. we know it didn't grow. in fact, it went in reverse the fourth quarter of 2012 and unemployment went up last week, so where are the green sprouts of growth? >> well, we've seen this movie before, haven't we? every time it looks like things are getting ready to go, there's

another problem and the president has talked in the past about headwinds that the economy's faced, tsunamis and all manner of things, european debt crises. today, though, the president is going to say that if the government doesn't spend as much this year as it did last year that we're risking the entire economy and that republicans have to agree to undo, i just want you to think about this, undo a deal that they entered into, the president and the republicans entered into, to accept the consequences of their prior failures. now they say it's we can't afford to suffer the consequences for backed at our work, so let's kick the can again. >> seems like america's gotten this message about not suffering consequences quite a bit on a number of issues. all right, chris. we'll see what the president has to say. thanks so much as always for the previous. >> yes, ma'am. shortly after the president's remarks, the other shoe drops as chris mentioned. we expect to hear from the nonpartisan congressional budget office.

they'll release their budget forecast for the next decade. the cbo' o's task is made more difficult since no budget has been passed since 2009. speaker of the house john boehner hitting the president hard over the lack of a budget or a budget proposal, earlier saying this. >> you know, every month under president obama kind of feels the same. high unemployment, rising prices, and more debt for our kids and our grand kids, and if government spending were what the president believes, creates economic growth, we shouldn't be having any of these problems at all. >> speaker boehner also addressing the looming spending cuts that president obama will speak about just moments from now saying republicans believe there is a better way to reduce the deficit. he's calling for cuts and reforms that will put us on the path to balancing the budget within ten years. you can see it live. we're keeping an eye on the white house. we'll bring you the president's remarks as soon as he gets to the podium. we are tracking a developing

story on new details from the justice department that seem to lay out its case for killing u.s. citizens if they're determined to be a terror risk. the memo first reported by nbc addresses issues raised after recent drone strikes including the one that killed american born al-qaeda leader, but now a bi-partisan group of senators says it wants to know why they were never briefed on what is apparently new presidential authority. chief intelligence correspondent kathryn her image is live with more. >> reporter: this letter signed by eight democrats and three republicans urges mr. obama to produce a highly classified memo that authorized the targeted killing program so that, quote, congress and the public can decide whether the president's power to deliberately kill american citizens is subject to appropriate limitations and safeguards. asked about an unclassified draft memo first reported by nbc news, it argues the president has the right to target americans for death because of their leadership within al-qaeda

such as the cleric you see here who was killed in september 2011. the attorney general said the administration was not citing the rule of law. when asked by fox news to explain the difference between an imminent and ongoing threat as described in the draft memo, holidayerholidayeholder resisteg details. >> some of these things are fact-based. i capture get into the weeds and examine these terms without having a reference to the facts, and i'm not in a position in this environment in a classified environment i can get more specific. >> reporter: critics charged the lack of transparency stands in stark contrast with the newly elected president's pledge in his national security speech in may of 2000 nine. >> whenever we cannot release certain information to the public for valid national security reasons, i will insist that there is oversight of my actions by congress or by the

courts. >> reporter: in their letter to the president, the senators warn that failing to provide the memos and allowing for adequate congressional oversight may force their hand and that the first casualty may, in fact, be his nominee for cia director, white house counter terrorism advisor john brennan. shannon? >> i imagine he'll have tough questions in the senate on thursday. >> reporter: could be the hardest hearing we've had. thank you. moments ago a senior official apparently said what we're looking at is a draft of the white paper. not sure if that changed the details for many folks, but we'll follow up on that and let you know more. dramatic new details on a daring rescue in alabama where the fbi managed to free a hostage held for seven days. they were watching the suspect and the boy deep in an underground bunker when they decided it was time to move in. elizabeth pran is live with more. hello, elizabeth. >> reporter: hi, shannon. we have new information for you. school officials came to our location and gave us more details about the school bus

that as dragged away from the crime scene. we now know that school bus is retired, and today a new bus and bus number went along charles poland's route this morning, although not all the children were on board. they do expect more children to start attending school. meanwhile, the scene behind me very much an active crime scene. they're still investigating and more details continue to come to light. federal officials confirm they were able to see inside the bunker, and they also say they e was two lines of communication, both through a pvc pipe as well as a cell phone. they tell us they witnessed the suspect's deterioration and that's why they acted. they also say it's very important for the agency to keep certain tactics private. the feds need to protect their resources in any future incidents. they continue to act with an abundance of caution. today they're sweeping the fields an the property to check for buried bombs. now, the boy, meanwhile, is free with his family, just in time for his sixth birthday. we all remember those photographs and we can see him in a stretcher being brought into the hospital.

the vigils that we saw nightly have turned into celebrations as the community continues to collect birthday cards for him. his family reports he's in good spirits, playing with his favorite toy dinosaur, laughing, eating, joking, and we spoke with the county superintendent who says he's the type of little boy who loves you even if you don't love him back. >> he was running around the hospital room, putting sticky notes on everyone that was in there, eating a turkey sandwich, and watching sponge bob. >> reporter: now, sheriff wally olson tells us they're planning a birthday party for this little boy as soon as he's ready and they'll give him all the cards and cake that he wants. shannon, back to you. >> the answer to a lot of prayers, elizabeth. thank you. all right. more ahead on the breaking news concern drone strike policy under president obama. one that seems very similar to the policies that created such serious outrage under president bush. we're going to ask former double play chief of staff karl rove to

weigh in. new fears that anti-american values are being taught to young u.s. students as parents in one state are asking what their kids are being taught about the opporunities and benefits of socialism. plus new financial concerns for american families as early gas price averages for the month of february soar to the highest ever recorded. a new report shows just how much of every week's paycheck is going simply to fill up the tank.

>> shannon: a new report finds sky high gas prices are now forcing americans to spend a bigger and bigger chunk of their household budget on filling up the family car. according to triple a, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded is now more

than $3.53 a gallon. that is a 17 cent jump in just the last week alone. now, last year the average family spent more than $2900 on gas. that works out to nearly 4% of pretax income. that's the highest it's been since 2008. this is a businessman and politics professor. thanks for joining us today. >> thanks for having me, shannon. >> how do family budgets manage before you even take out taxes you have 4% for severally getting around? >> the average median income for families in america is about $50 $51,000. there's not a lot of extra room, especially given the fact that the economy is not growing, people aren't anticipating wage increases. it's really tough out there if you're a family of four and you're trying to make do. >> shannon: how does this have a ripple effect because it's not just, you know, us going out to fill up the gas. i mean, it's the truckers who have to deliver products and food and that kind of thing. where does it show up e elsewhe?

>> it shows up in food we purchased, manufactured goods. when we go to shopping i sisters to buy children's apparel, everything gets to us through vehicles with gasoline. >> shannon: there's plenty of criticism for this particular administration that it could have done more to work on domestic energy production. when you have somebody who sits as a cabinet member who said before being nominated that somehow you have to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in europe, are gas prices this high bad institution for this administration or not? >> well, they are, especially since in the fourth quarter the economy shrunk and did not grow. we are in a stagnant economy in america. we need to grow the economy the best way we can, to do that with inexpensive fossil fuel, oil, gasoline, allow people to get their products and goods and services to markets. >> shannon: all right. we've got to turn now to the white house where we understand we are just about to hear from the president of the united states. >> the decisions that we face on our budget and on our deficit.

these are decisions that will have real and lasting impacts on the strength and pace of our recovery. economists and business leaders from across the spectrum have said that our economy is poised for progress in 2013. we've seen signs of this progress over the last several weeks. home prices continue to climb, car sales that are a -- are at a five-year high, manufacturing has been strong, and we've created more than six million jobs in the last 35 months. but we've also seen the effects that political dysfunction can have on our economic progress, the drawn-out process for resolving the fiscal cliff hurt consumer confidence. the threat of massive automatic cuts have already started to effect business decisions, so we've been reminded that while it's critical for us to cut wasteful spending, we can't just cut our way to prosperity.

deep, indiscrim nat cuts to things like education and training, national security will cost us jobs and it will slow down our recovery. it's not the right thing to do for the economy. it's not the right thing for folks who are out there still looking for work. the good news is this doesn't have to happen. for all the drama and disagreements that we've had over the past two years, democrats and republicans have still been able to come together and cut the deficit by more than 2.5 trillion dollars through a mix of spending cuts and higher rates on taxes for the wealthy. so a balanced approach has achieved more than 2.5 trillion dollars in deficit reduction. that's more than halfway towards the $4 trillion in deficit reduction that economists and elected officials from both parties believe is required to stabilize our debt, so we've

made progress. i still believe we can finish the job with a balanced mix of spending cuts and more tax reform. the proposals that i put forward during the fiscal cliff negotiations in discussions with speaker boehner and others are still very much on the table. i just want to repeat. the deals that i put forward, the balanced approach of spending cuts and entitlement reform and tax reform that i put forward are still on the table. i've offered sensible reforms to medicare and other enentitlements and my health care proposals achieve the same amount of savings by the beginning of the next decade as the reforms that have been proposed by the bi-partisan bull simpson fiscal commission. these reforms would reduce our government's bill. [ laughter ] >> what's up, cameramen?

come on, guys. they're breaking my flow all the time. >> these reforms would reduce our government's bill by reducing the cost of health care, not shifting all those costs onto middle class seniors or the working poor or children with disabilities but nevertheless, achieving the kinds of savings that we're looking for. but in order to achieve the full $4 trillion in deficit reductions that is the stated goal of economists and our elected leaders, these modest reforms in our social insurance programs have to go hand in hand with a process of tax reform, so that the wealthiest individuals and corporations can't take advantage of loopholes and deductions that aren't available to most americans. leaders in both parties have already identified the need to get rid of these loopholes and deductions. there's no reason why we should keep them at a time when we're trying to cut down on our

deficit. and if we are going to close these loopholes, then there's no reason we should use the savings that we on the and turn around and spend that on new tax breaks for the wealthiest or for corporations. if we're serious about paying down the deficit, the savings we achieve from tax reform should be used to pay down the deficit, and potentially to make our businesses more competitive. now, i think this balanced mix of spending cuts and tax reform is the best way to finish the job of deficit reduction. the overwhelming majority of the american people, democrats and republicans as well as independence, have the same view, and both the house and the senate are working towards budget proposals that i hope reflect this balanced approach. having said that, i know that a full budget may not be finished before march 1st and unfortunately, that's the date when a series of harmful

automatic cuts to job creating investments and defense spending also known as the sequester are scheduled to take effect. so if congress can't act immediately on a bigger package, if they can't get a bi bigger package done by the time the sequester is scheduled to go into effect, then i believe that they should at least pass a smaller package of spending cuts and tax reforms that would delay the economically damaging effects of the sequester for a few more months until congress finds a way to replace these cuts with a smarter solution. there is no reason that the jobs of thousands of americans who work in national security or education or clean energy, not to mention the growth of the entire economy should be put in jeopardy because folks in washington couldn't come together to eliminate a few special interest tax loopholes or government programs we agree

need some reform. congress is already working towards a budget that would permanently replace the sequester. at the very least, we should give them the chance to come up with this budget instead of making an indiscriminate cuts that would cost jobs and significantly slow the recovery. let me just repeat. our economy right now is headed in the right direction, and it will stay that way as long as there aren't any more self-inflected wounds coming out of washington. let's keep on chipping away at this problem together as democrats and republicans to give our workers and our businesses the support that they need to thrive in the weeks and months ahead. thanks very much, and i know that you're going to have a whole bunch of other questions, and that's why i hired this guy, jay carney, to take those questions. thank you, everybody. >> shannon: the president wrapping up remarks live at the white house talking about the fact that he wants to see a

bigger deal done, but if it can't be done ahead of those automatic cuts that kick in across the board indiscriminately before march 1, he wants a deal done. let's go back to professor david rehr who is still with us. professor, i want to ask you about something. the president, you know, is being pushed to actually come up with spending cuts of significance as well by the g.o.p.. >> right. >> shannon: he said you can't cut your way to prosperity. of course, folks on the other aisle said no poor man deeply in debt has ever spent his way to prosperity. who's right? >> you can't tax your way to prosperity, either. over the history of western civilization, those countries that tax the productive and the entrepreneurial fail, so america is really at a choice. do we cut spending or do we raise taxes on people who create jobs and who create wealth? i think we have to cut spending. >> shannon: all right. we'll see if the president is listening to you, professor. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> shannon: all right. while the president was speaking, we were also learning

more about what the congressional budget office expects for the coming year. remember, it's nonpartisan. first, because of the extra taxes most of the country started paying a few weeks ago, you may have noticed in your paycheck, they expect the deficit will come in just below a trillion dollars this year. before you open the champagne, it's still going to be around $800 billion. in fact, north of that, a very big number. because of spending cuts, they expect economic growth to be slow and unemployment to stay high. stu varney joins us in the next hour with the rest of the budget news. that's coming up. >> that's not good for creatures like polar bears who depend on the ice. a new scientific study shows that for the first time, they're finding polar bears that have actually drowned. swimming long distances, up to 60 miles, to find the ice. >> shannon: you may recognize that voice. former vice-president al gore in the movie an inconvenient truth

talking about polar bears dying en masse because of global warming. the debate has gained worldwide attention. one writer decided to pack up his family and move north so he could chronicle the demise of these beautiful animals. what he found wasn't exactly what he expected. trace gallagher has details from the west coast newsroom. trace? >> it's fascinating because today researchers from the university of alberta issued another dire warning like vice-president gore's concerning polar bears and i'm quoting here late ice freezeup and the overall reduction in ice pack are taking their toll. such an event could erase half of a population in a single year which is exactly why zack understandinger decided to move his young family up to northern canada so he could observe firsthand how climate change is affecting polar bears, right? he was going to go up there and write a being boo. he was going to be a hero to the environmental movement. as he said, he was going to be the next john muir except when he got there, he found a different scenario. he found there are more polar

bears today than thi there were0 years ago. instead of dying off because of thinning ice, they're exploding because they can't be hunted. the town he lives in, polar bears walk down main street. there are so many when residentses see them, instead of calling 911, they call 877 bear and a truck load of authorities come out with fire crackers and shoo the bears back into the wilderness. the towns have a polar bear jail where the animals stay until the bay freezes over. on halloween kids can't wear white left they get mistaken for a baby polar bear. unger says he's not weighing in on global warming but the pole lar bear, as you've seen, has become a very, very big symbol of the climate change debate. his point to this book is simply that the polar bears are doing just fine. shannon. >> shannon: that's great news. we like to hear that. trace, thank you. >> okay.

>> shannon: outgoing epa bosley is a jackson suggesting her biggest regret from a rocky term is a failure to communicate that the epa isn't coming to get you. the message, is that the problem or is that the policy? the debate is next. plus, new questions about whether what are being called anti-american values are being taught to young students right here in the u.s. we're going to look at the curriculum that one teacher says is equivalent to aiding and abetting a crime. and breaking news on women's skiing icon lindsey vonn. the terrifying injury that has gotten her airlifted to the hospital.

>> shannon: developing overseas,

a significant in moment in the blood bath that has been syria's civil war. u.s. patriot missiles go into operation today along turkey's border with syria. the move is described as defensive in nature after syrian shelling has already killed several civilians in turkey. fox news is the only american tv network on the ground there. our own greg pal cot is streaming live. hello, greg. >> reporter: shannon, as of today, the u.s. military is involved, at least to some degree in the syrian conflict. we watched today as u.s. soldiers went operational with their missiles. these troops are from places like texas, oklahoma, and now they are about 30 miles away

from some of the ugliest fighting we're seeing inside syria. u.s. military officials we talked to were very careful to say that this is purely defensive, aimed at protecting the population of this important nato ally, but symbolically to some, at least it is a show of force. look at what we saw today. this is a launcher of a patriot missile battery manned by u.s. soldiers in turkey. its aim is to shoot down any syrian missiles coming over the border, over that horizon. syria has those missiles and is using them. the fear is those mitches could be tipped with chemical -- missiles could be tipped with chemical weapons. the folks say they can handle that as well. some are upset about the u.s. here. syria said it heightens the conflict, the tensions here. iran and russia are calling it provocative. even some in turkey are angry. the group claiming responsibility for that attack against the u.s. embassy in ankara last friday cited the

deployment. others are saying that the u.s. is still not doing enough. there's more than 60,000 dead, 700,000 refugees they say the u.s. is still standing literally along the sidelines. so as we saw in that israeli attack last week against syria targets, more and more this thing is becoming a regional conflict and now many men and women from america, service members, are involved as well. at least again to some degree. back to you, shannon. >> shannon: greg palkot live along the border. thank you. epa bosley is boss lisa jas seen a lot of controversy in her office, and has sparked more going out the door. she suggests her failure to communicate was the real problem saying, quote, had i known that these myths about everything from cow flatulence to spilled

milk means the epa is coming to get you, i would have spent more time trying to inoculate against that. welcome. >> hi, shannon. >> shannon: leslie, let me start with you. you know, there are a lot of folks out there and i will paraphrase my colleague, greg gutfeld, who have a problem with those who are more worried about the earth than actual earth links. some say the epa is coming after that. what say you? >> i say any time we people on the left try and do something, whether it's gun or cows, we're coming after you to get your possessions, and that's just not true. as the mother of two children 4 and 5 who will be here long after i'm gone, i hope, and living in los angeles that used to have a cover of smog over it, if you recall, it's essential that we protect water and air

for all human beings. that would be earthlings for greg. i'll e-mail him later, okay. the regulations are in place to protect these people. it isn't about taking their jobs. it isn't about the government overreaching, and let's talk about what it's about on the other side. on the other side it's about pleasing lobbyists from large corporations that write checks to those in the g.o.p. and the republican party when they come up for reelection. >> shannon: tony, does the epa and its regulations cost american jobs? >> they absolutely do, and you could even see in all the data the reason we've not had the economic recovery that we should be having is because in large part due to the overburdensome regulations that have come out of the obama epa under miss jackson. remember, the first two years of this administration, the epa grew by 118%. the reason also being because when the democrats ran both the senate com and the house were ue to pass a cap and trade bill, the obama administration passed

an executive order making carbon a pollutant, therefore allowing the epa to pursue additional regulations that the law itself did not allow them to pursue because congress refused to act. there is a balance, and i hopelessly agrees, between environmental protection and economic growth, recovery, stimulation. that's what we're trying to find right now. we need to make sure we liberate the energy sector as we learn from a series of reports that have the potential to create over a million jobs in the next three years alone if properly allowed through government regulation, not overregulation, to start doing more drilling, to start exploring more energy sources. natural gas which we have an abundance of here in the united states, and we see state by state, shannon, the number of unemployed people in states like north dakota a and ohio and texs are going down in large part because of energy production and energy exploration and states like california where leslie

sits have horrendous unemployment, anemic growth, much like the rest of the country. >> shannon: leslie, i want to ask you. do you think this administration is willing to consider, even behind closed doors, that the message itself, it's the policy itself, not the way they're communicating it, and we heard it over and over with health care. they'll like it if they understand what's in it. spendinspending millions on a hh care pr plan. do you think the administration is willing to consider the heart of the policy? >> i think that's what she said to a degree, but i mean, not the policy, the message. so no, i wouldn't agree that it's the policy. in california we created more jobs in the texas, oregon, and west virginia combined so i would re-check those numbers. >> not in energy. that's what i emphasized. >> with regard to agreement somewhat with you, we do need to look to alternatives. but let me give you a very easy example. when you buy three t-shirts for 10 bucks that are made in china, they're going to fall apart

after one wash. why? because we sacrifice quality for cash. now, when you're talking about human lives, and you're talking about toxicity in the environment, i find it completely hypocritical that you care about the poor people with regard, oh, today, to their jobs and how are they going to heat hirtheir homes. you don't care about their health and you certainly don't want to pay for their health care once they're having any kind of a toxic respiratory problem due to carbon and emissions in the future, and that will happen. >> leslie, i'm not even sure what you're trying to say here. we have medicaid. that pays for people who can't afford health care. of course, i'm sure you know we have obama care which i know you support. the reality is the energy driven recovery of this economy can exist. you just heard president obama in his press conference refer to energy as being a source of economic growth which it can be, and it can be done responsibly. this kind of dire well, if you're for energy, you're

against clean air and water, that's kind of a false choice that i think the left purports. they suggest they want to help. let's look at the war on coal. the majority of lower and middle income people in america get their electrical energy from coal, yet the policies of the epa and this administration are driving the cost of that energy up, and people can't afford it. we just heard a segment before here with gas. gas is a commodity. the more of it you produce, the more the price is deflated. the more of it we get from north america rather than the middle east, the less dependent we are on getting gas and oil from people who don't like us, and guess what? in seven years we're going to have more natural gas and oil accessible in our own country and our continent than they do overseas, so why don't we start finding smart, responsible ways to harness that. >> shannon: we've got to leave it there, tony and leslie. always great to see you. >> thanks so much, shannon. lawmakers in one state are looking into whether students are being taught some seriously unamerican values. in three minutes we'll detail the lessons on socialism.

the exercise in at a party terrorism -- tea party terrorism, and other items that have some others very concerned. talk about a picture that speaks a thousand words. these shelves were filled with bockes of ammunition not long ago. we'll show you what's happening here just ahead. plus, we have a puzzling propaganda message from north korea as an official video. it shows what appears to be a u.s. city under attack. the story behind this ... coming up. copd makes it hard to breathe, but with advair, i'm breathing better. so now i can be in the scene. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator working together to help improve your lung function all day.

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>> shannon: new controversy over a school curriculum used across texas. lawmakers in that state are starting to question part of the curriculum being used by about three quarters of the state. we're told it's on the radar because in part of an assignment that involves students creating socialists flags. joining us now, someone who is

very concerned with someone who is -- concerned with what's happening in the classroom. i understand in a hearing about this curriculum that one teacher actually w wept openly as he described quitting because he felt he was, quote, aiding and abetting a crime by using this curriculum. how did you find about what's in it and who passed the stuff? >> well, the curriculum is really revealed by a number of teachers and others who had real concern about what was being put in our education system in the schools because they've been very secretive in how they failed to share with parents and with the public just what's in this curriculum. that was an amazing hearing. i've been here for 20 years, participated in many hearings. i've never seen someone so emotional about what they were testifying on. that was a math teacher of 40 years who said he quit because he thought it was education malpractice to use this in the

schools. >> shannon: just so people know what we're talking about, c-scope is described as an electronic curriculum management system that offers web-based lesson plans that teachers can use and basically it's for use in schools across the state of texas. is this the same curriculum that taught about the tea party and classified it as terrorism? >> it is that very same program, and there are many other examples of really disturbing content. in one it talks about the free market as being a selfish system but communism is really better for everyone. we've seen communism is a failed system, and we should be teaching our children that. but again, the biggest problem i see is just a lack of transparency, the fact that there's been no review. we in texas are really known for our textbook wars. we're very interested in what goes into our classroom and have had ridg ridge rigid review of e

material. we believe they're taking the public out of public education. >education. >> shannon: let me know whether this is true tor false. there's a report out there that basically the only people who can look at this curriculum and track it as it goes into play are teachers who this report said had to sign a gag order and would not tell people about what was in it. >> that is correct. that is how it's been. of course, at this hearing recently before the texas senate, the c-scope sponsors said that they were not going to continue to do that, but i've asked for a password and to be able to get in and review the curriculum, and i'm still waiting for it. our elected state board of education chairman waited six months to be able to get into the system and see it. >> shannon: the director of the schools, the person who oversees the school system? >> this is the elected state board of education who oversees the curriculum. >> shannon: it took six months for them to get a password? all right. i have to imagine that parents who hear about this and find out about it, this is texas.

i would imagine that they are a bit outraged in a u.s. school that their kids are being taught about the benefits of socialism, the good things that happened. you mentioned communism as well. are parents by and large aware of what their kids are being taught? >> it's amazing to me. it's spreading like wildfire across the states. parents are upset and concerned. i was on a radio station this morning in east texas. they had two meetings there. it took full houses, over 100 people showing up at these meetings. people are upset, and i tried to convey that to the senate education committee when i testified. >> shannon: who has the power to change this? >> well, certainly the legislature does. there is a bill in the legislature that is by representative steve toft. we're supporting the bill that would put education regional service centers and the on line curriculum under the elected state board of education. >> shannon: any idea when that will get to a vote? >> it has only been introduced.

it hasn't even been sent to committee yet. we're only in session 140 days every other year, so things will be fast and furious. we'll be pushing to get this legislation through. >> shannon: all right. we will be tracking it and keeping an o eye on it. peggy venable. thanks for keeping us updated. new warnings from the congressional budget office on what we can expect from our economy over the years, and it's not good. we're going to break down the numbers. breaking news on an american olympian and american skiing icon, lindsey vonn badly injured in a world cup race earlier today. trace is ahead with the details. plus, a puzzling message from north korea, releasing an official video showing what appears to be a u.s. city under attack. note the unusual music choice.

>> shannon: a buy sar piece of propaganda posted on line by north korea is getting a whole lot of attention. it shows a man sleeping, dreaming of an attack on the u.s. with the song oddly enough we are the world playing in the background. it gets a whole lot worse from there. trace gallagher has more from our west coast newsroom. trace, the whole thing's disturbing but the music choice is very confusing as well. >> reporter: yeah. it's the piano version of "we are the world". it was released by north korea's news and pop began da arm of the government -- propaganda arm of the government, an as you look at this thing, the video quality is not great, right. it shows a young man sleeping. he's got a camera, kind of dreaming the whole thing. you see it go on here.

it's a rocket being launched into orbit. the very same type of rocket, by the way, that pyongyang successfully launched back in december. it shows what appears to be new york city under a missile attack. now, some believe that the new york scene was actually taken from a popular video game, but i just want you to watch this for a few seconds. you can see the burned out buildings, shannon, kind of menacing music intertwined. the caption in korean says somewhere in the u.s., black clouds of smoke are billowing, and as the explosions continue, the caption then reads america is burning due to their overuse of authority and political power, and the video ends with that young north korean man saying my dream will surely come true. now, aside from this low-rent video, north korea really is threatening to test another

nuclear weapon. south korea says that north korean nuke sites are abuzz with activity. if you look at the history, the pattern kind of fits because you have this rocket that was fired in december. well, north korea tested nukes shortly after firing rockets in 2006 and 2009, and the un security council condemned north korea for launching both of those rockets. the u.n. security council has now condemned north korea for launching in december, and so experts say it would not surprise them if they tested another nuke. shannon? >> shannon: i think the words there are something like we're the ones who make a brighter day so let's start giving? >> right. >> shannon: very incongress inc. we got our first look at the legal arguments used to kill terror suspects in drone attacks. american citizens. we're going to ask karl rove about the current administration's policy and if

it's any different from the policy when george w. bush was in charge. a new run on ammo has wal-mart limiting the am that customers can buy. check out the empty shelves. just ahead. what to make of it. big controversy over a tweet from former presidential canada and congressman ron paul on the death of an american sniper. today we talked to medal of honor recipient dakota at a meyer about the message and the legacy of an american sniper. hey, our salads.

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your doctor will say get smart about your weight. that's why there's glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. [ male announcer ] glucerna hunger smart. a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes. >> shannon: this is a fox news alert. brand new reaction from the white house after a justice department memo raises questions about whether the administration has created the power to kill terror suspects even if they are not involved in an active plot to attack the u.s. and they're u.s. citizens. welcome to america live. i'm shannon bream in for megyn kelly. the so-called white paper sparking concerns on both sides

of the aisle, a bi-partisan group of the senators calling for the president to release all memos related to the drone policy. the aclu calls the document, quote, chilling. the doj seems to be arguing that the white house has almost the power to kill indiscriminately. here's white house press secretary jay carney just moments ago. >> this president takes his responsibilities very seriously, and first and foremost, that's his responsibility to protect the united states and american citizens. he also takes his responsibility in conducting the war against al-qaeda as authorized by congress in a way that's fully consistent with our constitution and all of the applicable laws. >> shannon: judge andrew napolitano is a former new jersey superior court judge and a fox news senior judicial analyst. he was a vocal critic of some of the bush administration's war on

terrorism. what do you think of this one? >> it's carrying things to an extreme that most americans won't recognize, shannon. as you stated so nicely in the introduction, a fair interpretation of this 16-page document and of jay carney, the president's press secretary, of jay's interpretation of it is that the president or, quote, a high-ranking u.s. government official, cloaft quote, i'm quoting from the document can kill anyone he wants no matter what the laws say, no matter what the constitution says, no matter what this president himself has said. that's nowhere justifiable under the constitution, nowhere justifiable under federal law. in fact, federal law and the constitution are to the opposite. unless you're actually pulling a trigger or within moments of pulling that trigger or dropping a bomb, the government has an obligation to do its best to arrest you and cargo wit chargea crime and prosecute you before they can indiscriminately killed

you. in the case at hand, three people killed were americans. one of them was admittedly an anti-american cleric who the government said participated in clots against us. the other was his -- in plots against us. the other was his son and his son's friend, neither of them had anything remotely to do with the reason why the drones were sent there. >> a number of senators alike have signed onto this letter to the president saying we have grave concerns about what's being outlined. it's violately important for the american public and the congress to have a full understanding of how the executive branch determines the limits and boundaries of this particular authority. they're saying that there's a lot of wiggle room in these definitions, and when you talk about being able to kill an american citizen, as you said, without the constitutional right to face a jury and other kinds of due process and things, there's a lot of gray area there. even if people would argue it's useful now because of someone

like anwar, you have to think of where it leads down the line. you and i know from law school, one of the first things you learn is a slippery slope argument. >> right. i think the members of congress have a couple of concerns on their hands, on their minds. the first is your argument that this power used today against an unpopular target might be used in the future by another president against a person the president doesn't like but as to whom there's no moral justification for pursuing whatsoever. i mean, another concern is this 16-page white paper is written so vaguely that the logic from it could actually be extrapolated to permit the president to kill americans here in the united states. the third concern the members of congress have, i would suggest to you, shannon, is they're upset that they didn't know about this because there's another federal statute that the president violated when he did this without telling them. you see, when the president ramps up the war on terror or decides to move into another area or use the cia to engage

people, whether to arrest them or to kill them, he's required to tell the senate and house intelligence committees ahead of time and get their consent. he apparently didn't do that, and so they're burned by this. >> shannon: yeah, not the first time on an important issue that that's happened. what about the fact that we have seen other memos unrelated to this out there, but the way they classify terrorism they also look at domestic terror issues, and there are those -- there have been memos out there, you've seen them, i've seen them, that have suggested that people that have extreme religious views, people who are pro life, some of those people could be considered in some ways domestic terrorists. they're on watch lists or should be monitored by the government. how far can this be taken. >> earlier in this administration, janet napolitano, no relation, the secretary of homeland security, issued a very startling memorandum. i remember discussing it with bill o'reilly in a whimsical way. it's terrifying. the memorandum said that people who are pro life, people who believe in the right to keep and bear arms, returning veterans,

people who think the government is too big and the irs is too powerful could be characterized as domestic terrorists. that group of people could character eyes two-thirds of the country, and this language, this frivolous use of language by this administration and then claiming they have the right to use force to stop dead in their tracks the people who fit into these categories violates the principles of the declaration of independence and violates the supremacy of the constitution which they've taken an oath to uphold. this is all very dangerous stuff. the government gets its powers from the consent of the governed. do you know anybody who consented to the government doing this? >> shannon: judge, i'm going to ask you a super quick question. i'm going to get in trouble, but i need a yes or no. this administration has pushed the boundaries on a number of things, going around congress, and the public often, there may be an initial outcry and they go along with things. yes or no, do you think the administration moves forward and

make this an official policy. >> no. i think the administration will run into a brick wall on this one. >> shannon: all right, judge. great to see you. as soon as the news broke but the president's drone strike policy, a number of people thought this reminds me of policies that sparked so much outrage under president george whereby bush. coming up, former bush chief of staff karl rove will weigh in on today's news and the criticism the white house took during the terror war a decade ago. this is a fox news alert. we're awaiting a news conference from the congressional budget office. this nonpartisan panel has just released the annual 10 year budget and economic outlook report. the panel is predicting a lower deficit, but the report assumes the automatic across the board spends cuts are actually going to be triggered, something lawmakers are now trying to avoid. the report comes less than an hour after the president called on congress to find another way. >> if congress can't act immediately on a bigger package, if they can't get a bigger

package done by the time the sequester is scheduled to go into effect, then i believe that they should at least pass a smaller package of spending cuts and tax reforms that would delay the economically damaging effects of the sequester for a few more months until congress finds a way to replace these cuts with a smarter solution. >> shannon: so what does all this mean for you, your family's budget? just ahead, stu varney joins us live to crunch the numbers. the justice department breaking new legal grounds, hitting the ratings agency s&p with civil fraud charges, claiming their risky investments helped to trigger the 2008 financial melt down. s&p is the largest ratings agency in the country. they made international headlines in 2011 when they down graded our nation's credit rating. this lawsuit marks the first major federal action against the ratings industry in general. however, attorney general eric

holder said this lawsuit has nothing to do with that downgrade. the student debt centers on nearly $3 trillion of subprime mortgages which the justice department claims were given inflated ratings. here's more from cheryl. >> reporter: a couple of things coming out of the press conference with the attorney general today that are very interesting. first you mentioned the fact that s&p, the big claim to fame by the nation's largest credit rating agency, when they downgraded the debt of the country, that sparked a financial crisis, a wall street crisis back in 2011. eric holder very quickly saying no, this was not politically motivated, but many economists and wall street analysts, those that cover mcgraw hill which is the parent company of s&p, raising that question why s&p? why is moody's, another rating agency, why are they not being targeted? i talked to an attorney earlier today who thinks mood moody's we brought into the fold. for now it's only s&p.

here's what the complaint asserts, that the considerations regarding fees, market share, profits, relationships with issuers, improperly influenced s&p's rating criteria and models. what they're saying is there's two sides to the business at s&p. they give ratings on things like mortgage backed securities, the instruments that caused the financial crisis when homeowners couldn't pay their bills. they're saying the church and state, if you will, that's supposed to be in place at s&p was not in place and that fees are being collected based on these good ratings. they say that's illegal behavior. there's also kind of an interesting component in that they've got in witness analyst d, if you will, at s&p who was basically using the ole talking heads song from the '80s, burning down the house. he was putting out a video, an e-mail, making jokes about the fact that the house was going to burn down, but s&p was still handing out these good ratings. to be continued, shannon. obviously this is a major action against s&p with regards to the

financial crisis. >> shannon: absolutely. cheryl, thanks for the details. we're seeing new fallout today from all the talk about new rules for gun owners. wal-mart retailers are now saying they're nearly out of ammunition even after restricting how many boxes of bullets customers can buy. it's not just wal-mart. stores all across the country say they're running short. trace gallagher has the latest from the west coast newsroom. trace? >> reporter: for ammunition buyers, you had this perfect storm. you had the president on the road pushing his gun control measures. there's talk in certain areas about increasing ammunition tax, so that leads to a rush in buying. right now you've got demand as well outpacing supply. for example, gun store owners say magazines with 28 to 30 bullets use to sell for between 15 and 18 bucks. most are gone, but if you go on line, you can find those same magazines for 40 to 50 dollars. the world's largest retailer as you said, wal-mart, limiting ammunition to three boxes of shells per customer.

the inventory is being bought up at an astounding pace around the country. many manufacturers running well behind the stores in some areas completely out. this right here is a wal-mart in the d.c. area sent to us by a viewer. experts say people are stock piling because they're unsure of what limits and laws are coming down the road. it's not just gun owners, right. we're talking about police departments in many areas also feeling the pinch. not on their on hand supplies but trying to replenish their stock. they're saying they're having to wait several extra months to get those certai. certain bullets in high demand. we're talking about 9 millimeter and .40 caliber. gun owners said it was a run three months ago on guns, and then gun carry permits, and now we're getting to the am missionn part of that, shannon. >> trace gallagher, thank you. >> shannon: you heard judge napolitano at the top of the hour suggesting the obama administration has now granted

itself the power to kill almost incrime natalie. just ahead, former bush deputy karl rove joins us to talk about the heat his boss took for policies that didn't go anywhere near this far. breaking news on an american olympian and ski star. lindsey vonn could be sidelined after a major injury at a world cup race. we've got the latest on the crash and her condition. ♪ they see me rollin' ♪ they hatin' ♪ patrolling ey tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty ♪ ♪ tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty ♪ ♪ tryin' to -- [ woman ] hi there. why do we always have to take your mom's car? [ male announcer ] the security of an iihs top safety pick, the 2013 volkswagen tiguan. that's the power of german engineering. right now lease a 2013 tiguan for $219 a month. ♪

right now lease a 2013 tiguan for $219 a month. why let constipation stry miralax.? mirlax worksdifferently than other laxatives. it dws water into your colon to unblock your system naturally. don't wait to fe great. miralax. >> shannon: back to one of our big breaking stories, the congressional budget office holding a news conference. first up, because of the extra taxes most of the country started paying a few weeks ago, you saw it when you opened your paycheck, they expect the deficit will come in below a trillion dollars this year. before you open the champagne, it will still be north of $800 billion, a very big number, and because of spending cuts, they expect economic growth to slow and unemployment to stay high.

joining us now, stu varney, host of varney and company on the fox business network. stu, this is a nonpartisan group. they simply crunch the numbers. what caught your eye? >> the two numbers, the two points you just made. number one, the deficit this year will be below a trillion dollars for the first time in the obama years. point number two, the growth of the economy will really slow down. only 1.4% growth. so essentially the cbo, the bean counters, they are agreeing with president obama who says you lower the deficit by raising taxes. you ruin -- not ruin. you hurt the economy by cutting spending. that's what the cbo is saying. they're also painting, i think, a very grim picture of the economy. 1.4% growth, 8% unemployment, about 7 and a half percent for years to come. if you look at the report carefully and i have, and you go fast forward to the future, they say our debt is really bad down

the road because of health care costs and our aging society. >> shannon: wait a minute. i thought that the health care bill, now law, was going to handle the cost or at least move them in the right direction. >> shannon, right again. we went into health care reform thinking that we would get out of it lower health care costs. well, we didn't. we went into obama care hoping for savings, and what we got is higher costs. that's been factored into the cbo report. that's why they're saying that down the road when more of us retire, we will have a real debt problem starting around 2019. that's way down the road. >> shannon: where have we come to in this country where we're actually happy or it's a positive thing that the deficit is only going to be $800 billion plus? where are we that that's actually considered good news? >> we seem to be accepting mediocrity. it's actually terrible news historically, and if you look at the projection of the debt, it's

going to reach a record level within a couple of years relative to our economy. worse than it's ever been since we were recovering from world war ii. i'm looking for the good points in this report, and it's very difficult to find them because although you've got a lower deficit this year, you've also got a grim economy, and a worsening of the debt situation down the road. this is not a good report any which way you try to spin it. >> shannon: how much to blame is the fact that there seems to be so much dysfunction in washington, the two sides can't come together to agree on much when it comes to fiscal policy? how much is the gri gridlock to blame versus the underlying policies that remain in place until they figure out something to unlock the gridlock. >> you're asking for an opinion and i'll give it to you. >> shannon: okay. >> i don't think it's gridlock that's the problem. the problem is the underlying policy which has led us to where we are. we pursued a policy of tax hikes and more spending and ignore the debt. that has produced where we are

now. we've ignored a policy of growing the private sector. we've ignored that. because we've ignored it, i think that's why we're in such a grim position now. that is an opinion. >> shannon: why do you think that we're willing to accept this kind of behavior from our government when if any of us ran our budgets at home like this, we would be bankrupt and on the streets? >> because the president constantly says the economy is headed in the right direction. he said that just a few minutes ago. >> shannon: he did. >> the economy is headed in the right direction. he says housing is improving, the car market is improving. he's ignoring, conveniently, the grim reality. the economy actually is contracting. unemployment is rising. we've still got a deficit of $845 billion this year. we're ignoring reality. we're kicking the can. we're actually settling for mediocrity which i don't think is good enough for america. >> shannon: stu varney, you're good enough in america. we love it. thank you so much. we're getting more details from a developing story on

lindsey vonn, crashing badly at a world cup race a couple hours ago. trace has her prognosis right after the break. plus, big controversy over a tweet from forme former presentn candidate ron paul. medal of honor recipient dakota meyer on the price of freedom. >> what does ron paul think of all the men and women in our military? well, volunteer to defend this nation. they've taken up arms and have killed or wounded the enemy? what does ron paul say to them? live by the sword, die by the sword? tore a lot of ligaments

including the anterior cruciate,

the main ligament in her right knee. if this is a total reconstruction, we got off the phone with dr. manny, he said this thing could take a while to hea. keep in mind the olympics begin almost exactly a year from now, and those could be in jeopardy because dr. manny is saying it could take at least a year, maybe a year and a half before she recovers from this. vonn, of course, won the gold medal in the downhill in vancouver in 2010. she's a four-time world cup champion. today's race had been delayed for three hours because of heavy fog, and it was difficult to see a lot of skiers saying you could not see at all in some areas. we don't know if that's a factor in the crash here, shannon, but she was moving down that course when she fell. you can see lindsey vonn. she's fallen a number of times, back in 2006 in she fell badly and was taken to the hospital and was back out skiing that afternoon. this time that's not the case. she's going to be out at least for the better partly of a year

if not longer, shannon. >> shannon: that's heart breaking. these athletes really push themself and take serious risks. do we know based on the conditions you talked about, we don't know whether they're a factor. were there any other spills or trouble today that you heard about? >> no, nothing that bad. i mean, there were a couple of minor fall, but nothing that bad. this thing was delayed. this was pushed to way late in the afternoon, shannon. it was a three-hour delay because of fog. they finally ran this thing and skiers were simply saying look, it was hard to see. the track wasn't especially hard or icy, but it was just difficult to see in certain spots, and she came off that jump. she kind of just lost control. she just said a couple of days ago that she was ready. she had her game face on because she had this intestinal injury that was driving her crazy for the past couple of months, and she was now back to a hundred% and ready to compete in this thing. look. she is the most famous female skier in the world, maybe skier, period in the world. many have called her the tiger woods of skiing. she's that good. four-time world champion and

now, you know, at 28 years old, you talk about not just ending the season but possibly ending her career, so we're wishing, you know, pulling for her, but this is a very significant injury. >> shannon: yeah. absolutely. all the best to her and the best with her physicians and her recovery. we know that it's so dangerous out there in some of these winter sports as we've seen, you know, a fatality not long ago, just within the last few days. trace, thanks for the details. brand new information on the super bowl blackout that left the players and fans in the dark for more than half an hour. why it may not have been as unexpected as originally thought. plus, we'll have more on the president's drone strike policy that seems to resemble ones that sparked so much outrage under president george w. bush. former deputy chief of staff karl rove joins us live to weigh in. a courtroom outburst gets one woman a whole lot more than she bargained for after she decided to give the judge a piece of her mind. by the way, never a good idea.

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>> this president takes his responsibilities very seriously, and first and foremost, that's

his responsibility to protect the united states and american citizens. he also takes his responsibility in conducting the war against al-qaeda as authorized by congress in a way that is fully consistent with our constitution and all of the applicable laws. >> shannon: back to the breaking news on our big story. that was white house spokesman jay carney less than an hour ago responding to a series of questions after we got our first look at the administration's legal arguments behind the president's drone strike policy. judge napolitano told us his reading of this policy seems to give the president the power to kill almost indiscriminately, and all day we've heard people point out the amount of heat the bush administration took a decade ago for policies that were much more limited. karl rove is a former senior advisor and deputy chief of staff to president george w. bush, also a fox news contributor. karl, good to see you t to do.

>> thanks, shannon. how are you. >> shannon: i'm good. you guys got in trouble for eaves dropping on people. what do you think of this? >> first of all, i'm not a lawyer. i do think that the government of the united states needs tools in order to deal with the american citizens who are actively involved with terrorist groups abroad. the devil is in the details. these memos have to be very carefully crafted by the office of legal counsel, the department of justice with careful attention to law, international commitments. they have to be very specific in outlining what can be and what cannot be done. we don't know what's in the memo. all we know is in a memo that is based on the memo, so if this is appropriately briefed to congress, then, you know, i think the government needs a tool. if we have american citizens who are active in terrorist groups abroad who don't want to be the targets of a drone strike, they've got two options.

they can come home, face the music, be charged with adid and- adidding and abetting materially, or they can go to a country without an extr extradin treaty and live out their lives. we need a tool like this. having said that, two things. one is it's unclear how well this was briefed to the senate and house intelligence committees. congress has a right to know about these things and be briefed about them. second of all, you're right. it's interesting. i remember how attorney general alberto gonzalez, three heads of the office of legal counsel, i remember how the general counsel at dod and the vice-president's office were excoriated by liberal politicians, leftist commentators, talking heads on television. these men were hounded, they and others were hounded, demands that they be charged with war crimes, that their law licenses be taken away. anybody who did that kind of

stuff against those men during the bush years, if they're not as equally harsh on president obama's administration, then we can just write them up as crass hypocrites. what they did to those american who served as patriotic americans in a time of danger and difficulty to our country was of great importance to us. they didn't deserve the kind of treatments they had at the hands of the baying wolves on the left of american politics. >> shannon: our research team put together a few of those quotes and objections made by people like senator dianne feinstein. the man who is now the attorney general, eric holder, and others who were angry about people being held naked and shackled. what this new policy is we're talking about today is actually the ability to kill people that are american citizens, and to be fair, what we know so far about the memo says there are three very specific criteria including there has to be an immediate threat, no way to capture these

people, and they have some connection to what we believe is terrorist activity that threatens the u.s., but there are those who critics who have seen this said there's a lot of latitude, a lot of gray area. it's how you define these things and who gets to make those decisions about how they're defined. do you think there will be intense criticism and questioning from the main stream media about this as you faced? >> well, obviously not. the media was hypocritical and callow and coordinately when they took on -- cowardly when they took these people on. they did so because it was george w. bush, republican and a conservative and these men were in the service of his administration, so no, they won't. it's president obama. remember, president obama excoriated the patriotic act in 2002006, fought against its renl and has routinely used the tools of the patriot act to do what his press spokesman, jay carney, to do one of his principals duties to keep america safe.

you're right. eric holder was one of the people baying for law licenses and practice me chu a a prematue careers of these people. the people before him wrote the underlying memo. we don't know what's in the underlying memo. all we know is what's written in a memo that describes in general terms what's in that memo. i suspect that memo is far more precise and far more detailed and spells out what can be done and what cannot be done, but you know he, hopefully that has been briefed to the members of the senate and house intelligence committee, at least the leadership of those committees, and they've thought carefully about them. to go back to your original question, i don't expect senate leahy to come out and say as harsh a things about the current attorney general and the current administration as he did when george bush was president. this was all about politics for him. it wasn't about a principle. i have to take my hat off to the aclu. at least they're being consistent. they went after george w. bush, and they're going after barack

obama, probably with a little bit less intensity in the case of president obama, but at least they put out a statement decrying this policy where the others are silent or rallying to the defense of the administration. >> shannon: yeah. i wanted to ask you about that because i don't imagine it's often that you and the aclu were hanging out together. they do call this, what they know of the policy so far, chilling. >> i want to be clear. i'm not with them on the side of believing this is a wrong policy. i want to give the president the benefit of the doubt. i do believe the president has to have tools like this to deal with people like this u.s. citizen who was part of the al-qaeda leadership in yemen. he was a prime mover. he appeared in videos. we had solid evidence he was an activist in the leadership of al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula, and he was a threat to the united states. god bless president obama for having the courage to take him out, but you know, again, the devil's in the details, and the question is what's in this memo? how precise, how limited, how well-based in law and international commitments is it,

and we have to divorce that issue from the issue of if you were critical of george w. bush for being harsh in the war on terror, are you equally harsh of president obama and are you calling for the same kind of treatment of the people in the office of legal counsel, the department of justice who wrote this memo as you were in the bush years? that's a separate question from whether this is a good policy or a bad policy. i, frankly, find myself in the position of disgreig with the aclu on whether it's a good policy but agreeing with the aclu that they have every right to be consistent in criticizing both president bush and president obama for being tough on the war on terror. >> shannon: you brought up senator leahy who was very critical of what the bush administration decided to do on a number of these cases. to be fair, he's actually signed on to this letter with a number of other senators, republicans and democrats alike, not endorsing the policy, not shooting it down but saying like hey, we were not briefed. we need to see these legal papers. could you cough them up. to me, that sounds like these senate leaders weren't consulted

about this. there's some talk that maybe what's been seen out there, the memo was in draft form. how critical is the role of congress in making decisions about this kind of stuff? >> well, we also have here potentially, and i haven't seen a list of all eight of the people who signed the letter, but we may also have a turf dispute on capitol hill. by law, the president is required to brief these kind of activities to the leadership of the senate intelligence committee exph and the house intelligence committee. senator leahy is chairman of the judiciariry committee. he may be trying to say okay, i know you have a statutory responsibility you may have met, but i want a piece of the action, too. i'm a little bit restrained here yet on this letter from the eight members. it may have something to do with turf as well. we just need to know more, but i will be watching senator leahy in the days ahead to see if he's as critical of the department of justice and the office of legal counsel and this president as he was of the predecessor president

and predecessor attorney general and predecessor office of legal counsel when they made serious, tough decisions about how america should conduct itself in the war on terror. let's see if he's going to be an equal, you know, an equal complainer or whether he's going to be restrained in his comments and not demand, you know, the removal of law licenses and you know, federal charges to be brought about. let's see if some of these talking heads on the left are calling for president obama to be charged as a war criminal as they were president bush. >> shannon: we will. as they learn more, we'll see what their reaction is. karl rove, thank you, sir. >> you bet. coming up, a courtroom confrontation that's grabbing national attention. >> it's not a joke. you know we're not in a club now. >> okay. but you know. >> we're not in a club. be serious about it. >> i'm serious about it. you didn't see me laugh. >> i can see you're serious, all right. >> it's what she said next that landed her an extra month behind

bars. controversial comments from congressman ron paul, the former, raising new concerns about america's military and the sacrifices of our soldiers. mr. paul responding to the murder of marine sniper american hero chris kyle by saying if you live by the sword, then you die by the sword. up next. medal of honor recipient dakota mirmeyer on what it's like to le by the sword and the real price being paid to protect all our freedoms. >> well, mr. paul, you said what you said, and message received. we heard you. we read it. and you're pathetic. [ male announcer ] red lobster is hitting the streets

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and nothing to lose when you call lifelock now to get two full months of identity theft protection risk free. that's right, 60 days risk-free. use promo code: gethelp. if you're not completely satisfied, notify lifelock and you won't pay a cent. order now and also get this shredder to keep your documents out of the wrong hands-- a $29 dollar value, free. get protected now. call the number on your screen or go to lifelock.com to try lifelock protection risk free for a full 60 days. use promo code: gethelp. plus get this document shredder free-- but only if you act right now. call the number on your screen now! >> shannon: there was some quick and angry reaction yesterday over a controversial comment about the murder of retired navy seal chris kyle. one of the military's most effective snipers killed over the weekend at a texas gun range. an iraq war vet charged with the

shooting now, and after the news broke, former presidential candidate and one time congressman ron paul tweeted quote chris kyle's death seems to confirm that he who lives by the sword dies by the sword. treating ptsd at a fire range doesn't make sense. the tweet set off a chain reaction of criticism on line and all over the place, frankly. former congressman ron paul took to his own facebook page to respond to the outrage. he wrote this, quote, as a veteran i certainly recognize that this weekend's violence and killing of chris kyle were a tragic and sad event. my condolences and prayers go out to mr. kyle's family. unconstitutional and unnecessary wars have endless unintended consequences. a policy of non-violence as christ pretty muched would have prevented this and similar tragedies. one of those still unhappy with the congressman bein, sergeant a meyer. we all watched that ceremony right here on this broadcast a little bit more than a year ago, and sir, we thank you so much, first of all, for your service,

selfless to this country, but for joining us on the story today as well. >> thank you so much. >> shannon: what was your reaction when you heard about that tweet from the former congressman? >> you know, i really couldn't believe it. i couldn't believe that someone awho has represented our countr, a u.s. representative coming out and making a statement like that about someone who has served our country, i just couldn't believe it. i mean, he has put all of us as veterans, he's put law enforcement all in danger. i mean, coming out and saying this, it's like justifying it. it's like saying it's okay. >> shannon: well, and it's interesting to me that he's a veteran himself. >> i know. you know, it's -- i couldn't believe that it was said. i mean, we need to be there supporting the family. we he need to support veterans. i've seen what these veterans have sacrificed and done so much, and create chris was stilg to make a difference, still passing on his trait he learned to law enforcement and miment guys, and he was also doing

non-profit work. i mean, we've got to go out and make a difference and try to help veterans out. >> shannon: what i'm told is that chris kyle and a birdie tells me you as well do a lot of work trying to reach out with other people that have had similar experiences. vets who are coming home and those who are experiencing a lot of difficult things in transitions back into some kind of normalc fory for them. how important is it for the american people as a whole to understand what these men and women have been through and give them some respect? >> i mean, whether you support the war or not, chris kyle and no other veteran made the decision to go to war, so don't hold that against them. we've got to support these troops. they were just doing their jobs, just like we he all were and trying to make it home back to our families. when we get home, you know, these guys need help getting jobs. there's a huge issue out there of jobs in america all over, but you know, especially with veterans. i mean, the unemployment rate's high. we've got to get these guys jobs and keep helping them out and with hire our heroes, the u.s.

chamber of commerce and toyota, we're trying to go out and get jobs. so maybe ron paul, maybe we would -- don't criticize our veterans. how about team up with us and help us go out and make a difference and get these guys jobs? >> shannon: do you think something has changed over the last couple of generations. there was a time when every young man reached a certain age signed up and served in military conflicts. now there's a different attitude about people and the military. it's a volunteer army and marine and air force and all branches of the army. this is something you chose to do. do you think people fully respect that? >> i think we've kind of forgotten. i think we've kind of forgotten because military guys don't come over. they don't come back and demand, you know, anything. we went out and signed up to go fight for our freedom, you know. there's a lot of people, you know, the majority doesn't have to do that. >> shannon: medal of honor recipient dakota meyer.

a lot of folks call you a humble hero. we thank you for your service and all the other men and women out there who have served and continue to serve and their loved ones who serve with them. thank you, sir. ahead, a teenager did not who take her court appearance too seriously until the judge laid down the law. >> come back and let me see her again. count i would be 10,000. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso. your soups are so awesomely delicious my husband and i can't stop eating 'em! what's...that... on your head? can curlers! tomato basil, potato with bacon... we've got a lot of empty cans. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

>> shannon: bizarre court appearance for a woman who apparently didn't take it too seriously. a relatively minor charge turned into a very big deal. she got rude with the judge and as you can imagine, it went all downhill from there. trace gallagher has more from

the west coast newsroom. hey, trace. >> reporter: you've got to watch this. she was before the judge because she had xanax bars, that's the highest dose of the anti-anxiety medication. the judge asked her if she was under the influence, and she said no, but she seemed to be enjoyinenjoying herself. watch. >> how much would you say your jewelry's worth? it's not a joke, you know. we are not in a club, ma'am. >> okay. >> we are not in a club. be serious about it. >> i'm serious about it. you just made me laugh. >> you're serious, all right. >> you just made me laugh. i apologize. >> it's all right. how much is your jewelry worth. >> it's worth a lot of money. he set her bond at $5,000 and he sent her away, or so he thought. watch. >> bye, bye. >> adios. >> come back, ma'am. come back.

come back. count i would be $10,000. >> are you serious? >> i am serious. adios. >> adios. young penelope did not like the judge doubling her bond so she articulated that she did not like it. watch. [bleep] >> come back again. come back again. bring her back again. i believe i heard you saying. >> yes, i did. >> i believe you -- did you say [bleep] me? >> actually, i did. >> did you say that. >> yes, sir, i did. >> oh, you did say that? i find you in direct criminal contempt. 30 days in the county jail. >> well, her lawyer tried to get that sentence reduced. there she is, 30 days, but to no

avail. as we say in america live, shannon, she is now in the hoosegow for the rest of the month. >> shannon: oh, boy. bad life decisions. all right, trace, thank you. we'll be right back.